Heat exchanger



July 6, 1954 P. H. N. ULANDER 2,683,023

HEAT EXCHANGER Filed April 21, 1951 Patented July 6, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEAT EXCHAN GER Per Helge Natanacl Ulander, London, England,

assignor to James Howden & Company Limited, Glasgow, Scotland, a corporation of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Application April 21, 1951, Serial No. 222,177

3 Claims. 1 This invention relates to heat exchangers of the regenerative type in which heat is exchanged between two fluids through the medium of a heat transferring body with which the fluids come alternately into direct contact.

A heat exchanger for transferring heat be-.

tween a gas and a liquid according to the invention includes a device for distributing liquid to at least one portion at a time of the heat transferring body, said liquid distributing device and said heat transferring body being relatively movable.

The heat transferring body may be stationary and the liquid distributing device may be movable, or the liquid distributing device may be stationary and the heat transferring body may be movable. Alternatively the liquid distributing device and the heat transferring body may both be movable.

' A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in 4 which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a heat exchanger in part section, Fig. 2 is a section through the line 2-2 in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a section through the line 33 in Fig. 1.

In the embodiment illustrated the cooling liquid and the gas flow vertically downwards. The heat transferring body I is carried in a rotor 2, the vertical stub shafts 3' of which are supported in bearings 3. The rotor is enclosed in a closely fitting casing 4 and is caused to rotate by a motor through the medium of a worm gear 5 meshing with a ring gear 5' fixed to the periphery of the rotor 2.

The cooling liquid is fed to the inlets 6 of a liquid distributing device 1 and is supplied through holes 8 to the heat transferring body I. The liquid passes downwards through the body which is thereby cooled, and drains into radially disposed troughs 9 which are so shaped and located as to collect most of the cooling liquid when it drains from the body I. An appropriate drain pipe I 0 carries off the liquid collected in each trough to an annular space II whence the liquid continues downwards and through holes I2 intofa sump I3. The coolant which is not collected by the troughs 9 passes downwards through a compartment I4 and is partly deposited on conical walls I5 from which it drains into the annular space I I and thence to the sump I3. The remainder of the cooling liquid is either deposited directly in the annulus II, or passes downwards through swirl vanes I6 into a cylindrical compartment I! where the droplets are deposited by centrifugal action on the inner wall 2 I8. Thence the liquid drains directly into the sump l3. The liquid which is collected in the sump is discharged through an automatically operated valve-l9.

The gas to be cooled enters through an inlet connection 20 at the top of the apparatus and passes down through a conical duct 2! and then through gas spaces 22 in the distributing device I to the heat transferring body I. Owing to the rotation of the heat transferring body a section of said body, which has just been cooled by the cooling liquid, is presented to the hot gas stream. This gas passes downwards through the body I to which it gives up heat and emerges from the lower end of the body I at a reduced temperature. This temperature depends on the thermal properties, length and rotational speed of the body I and on the temperature to which the body I has been cooled by the cooling liquid. On leaving the body I the cooled gas enters the chamber l4 and, along with some of the cooling liquid, passes downwards through the swirl vanes I6 into the cylindrical chamber ll. The gas is then discharged upwards through a discharge duct 23 to a delivery connection 24.

The area of the end of the heat transferring body I covered by the liquid distributing device I is small compared with the area of the gas spaces 22 so that the time during which any portion of the heat transferring body I is in contact with the liquid is shorter than the time during which the same portion of the heattransferring body I is in contact with the gas, the difference in the times of contact being necessary to compensate for the difierence in the specific heats of the liquid and of the gas.

What is claimed is:

1. A heat exchanger of the regenerative type for eiTecting transfer of heat from one fluid to another fluid of lower temperature in which one of the fluids is a liquid and the other fluid is a gas, comprising a casing, a continuously rotatable cylindrical rotor mounted for rotation on an upright axis in said casing, a body of heattransferring material mounted in said rotatable cylindrical rotor, said body of material being carried by said rotor and rotatable therewith, a liquid distributing device mounted on the top of the casing directly above and arranged in axial alignment with the rotatable cylindrical rotor, said liquid distributin device including a plurality of angularly and regularly-spaced liquid inlet sectors extending radially over the body of material in the rotor and alternating witha plurality of sectoral spaces for the admission of gas to the upper end of the body of heat-transferring material in the rotor, a duct for conveying gas to all of said sectoral spaces in the liquid distributing device for the parallel flow of gas streams into and downwardly through the body of heat transferring material in the cylindrical rotor, and means for conducting liquid to each of said liquid inlet sectors for distribution by said liquid inlet sectors for parallel flow downwardly through the body of material in said rotatable cylindrical rotor.

2. A heat exchanger of the regenerative type as claimed in claim 1, in which the liquid inlet sectors of the liquid distributing device are small compared to the sectoral spaces alternating therewith.

3. A heat exchanger of the regenerative type for effecting transfer of heat from one fluid to another fluid of lower temperature in which one of the fluids is a liquid and the other fluid is a gas, comprising a cylindrical casing, a continuously rotatable cylindrical rotor mounted for rotat ion onan upright axis in said casing, a body of heat-transferring material mounted in said rotatable cylindrical rotor, said body of material being carried by said rotorand rotatable therewith a cylindrical liquid distributing device the periphery of which restson the top of the easing directly aboveand arranged in axial alignment with the rotatable cylindrical rotor, said liquid distributing device including a plurality of angularly and regularly-spaced hollow liquid inlet sectors extending radially over the body of material in the rotor and alternating with a plurality of sectoral spaces for the admission of gas to the upper end of the body of heat-transferring material in the rotor the lower portion of each sector having aplurality of liquid outlet openings, a duct forconveying gas to all of said sectoral spaces in the liquid distributing device for the parallel flow of gas streams into and downwardly through the body of heat-transferring material in the cylindrical rotor, and means for conductingliquid to each of said liquid inlet sectors for distribution by said liquid outlet, openings for parallel flow downwardly through the body of material in said rotatable cylindrical rotor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,970,127 Colby et a1. Aug. 14, 1 934 978,555 Snow fl Oct. 30, 1934 2,236,635 Young et a1. Apr. 1, 19.41 2,361,692 Karlsson et a1 Oct. 31, 1944 2,569,710 Fitzpatrick Oct. 2, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 622,899 Great Britain May 9, 1949 

